Mirrored Soul
by Warden Myst
Summary: A mirror is the perfect reflection of a person. The mirror doesn't know what you do or what you hide from others. It merely shows what it sees. But a man both from Remnant and not is about to show everyone just how powerful a tool a mirror is... and how it could save everyone from a woman with a power far more dangerous than seen before. OC-Insert with a whole extra plot line.
1. Confess

Chapter One

Confess

Phoenix Inkiealeran for his life down the alleyway, panting hard as he reloaded his gauntlets. The pair of thugs ran after him, uncaring of their injuries or broken bones as they swung their weapons at his back. He jumped forwards and with a flicker of silver energy, he teleported forwards about 300 feet, popping out of the air on the other side of the building that had been blocking his path. He sagged against the wall as he tried desperately to get his breath back. His aura was near gone, he was down to his last mags and even worse, **She** was coming. He had to find a place to send his warning. Ozpin needed to know what was going on before she got to him. With a thunderous boom, he felt the building shudder as one of the thugs unloaded his massive gun into the building. He growled and quickly stood. He activated the emergency protocol in his scroll, sending the information to Ozpin before wiping it. Phoenix breathed deeply, saying a quick prayer as his scroll beeped. He knew he was going to die and the information was going to die with him. But there was nothing else he could do. She couldn't get her hands on this information. He also wouldn't let civilians die just so he could get away. That wasn't the way of a huntsman. With a shimmer of silver, he appeared behind the goons, throwing the last punches of his life. The gauntlet impacted hard into the back of the man's skull as the hydraulics in the fist of his gauntlets took all of his kinetic energy and amplified it. The goon crumpled to the ground as the other one turned to Phoenix, his hands already pulling the triggers on his guns. Phoenix jumped with inhuman speed into the man, using both of his fists to hit the guns. Even as he did, several rounds struck him, going through the little of his aura he had left even as he took the man out.

Phoenix didn't realize he had fallen to the ground, even as blood seeped through his clothes. That's when he heard the slight click of high heels as **She** slowly walked down the alley. He had hoped to bleed out before this point. The woman walked casually over and leaned down over him, smiling as the skirts of her full length black dress swirled around her.

"Well well well, look what my lovely boys got me; a severely wounded master huntsman who was sent to spy on me. I wonder if you managed to send that data I needed before they got you." She pulled his scroll from his jacket pocket as it began emitting small streams of smoke. She tossed it aside as she smiled at him. "Pity, I will just have to take you and get the information that way." She placed a hand on his chest as she smiled down at him again. "You know, this won't be as bad as you think. I am very kind to those under my command."

Phoenix spat in her face, before shuddering in agony as she clawed at his wounds. He struggled to reach his belt as she gave him hard look. "That was uncalled for. I need your information so I can continue to do as I must." She looked him over as he coughed up blood. "Is there anything you wish to confess to me before you join me and those of my fold?" His hands found his belt and pressed a small button on it.

"Yes," he coughed as a vicious smile covered his face, "I am going to be glad to dance with you in hell." She gave him a blank look as there is a sensation like thunder without sound. As it happened, his aura flared brilliant silver as he tried desperately to teleport away from the woman who was about to do something far worse than kill him. With a massive impact to the air, the dust bomb he had in his belt activated, spewing massive gouts of flame and shooting bolts of lightning everywhere. Even as all of this was going on, Phoenix felt his body as it left the ground and fell through the air. This was no normal teleport. He felt reality ripping around him as he fell through swirls of colors and waves of sound. His last thought, as his body struck something he barely recognized as pavement, was of the information he had died to protect. There was a screeching of tires as his aura faded for good and he felt his soul left his body, unknowing and uncaring of the events his death had set in motion.

Ozpin sat in his office in the clock tower of Beacon Academy, waiting for his contact to call. He had received an urgent message from him saying he had information with life or death consequences if the wrong person got ahold of it. He sighed and stood, placing his scroll on his desk and stood, walking over to the large window as the mechanisms of the massive clock continued to click. He looked out over the city of Vale, his hands settling comfortably on the handle of his cane. He started when an explosion of fire and lightning lit up part of the night near the outskirts of the city. As he turned away and headed for the elevator, a dark winged shape rose from the area and flew towards Beacon. Ozpin recognized the shape as a Nevermore. He gripped his cane a little harder as the shape flew right towards his office. In mere moments, the giant Grimm hovered in front of his window. He stiffened as he saw the woman on its back, her long red hair flowing in the breeze. With a flicker of fire, his window shattered. The woman met his eyes and a small smile touched her lips.

"Good evening Ozpin. Imagine finding you here. It's almost like you were waiting for someone." Her tone was calm, cool and slightly smug. Ozpin back straighten as his hand found the handle of his cane again.

"I assume that the explosion I saw was caused by you Cassandra. You always had a flair for the dramatic. But you should full well that all of the huntsmen and huntresses will be searching for you. Turn yourself in and end this madness."

The woman smirked. "You and the rest of this corrupt order will join my cause, one way or another." She pulled something scorched and covered in soot from in front of her and tossed it in through the window. It hit the ground in front of Ozpin with a metallic clang. "Here's a gift for you; the latest one of your pawns to be captured and dealt with. You are going to be out of pieces before long." With a sudden rushing noise, a stream of ice hit the head of the Nevermore from behind Ozpin. He turned to see Glynda stalking towards the window, her weapon in hand as she came. The Nevermore shook the ice off and flew off, Cassandra's laughter mocking them as they flew away.

Ozpin crouched down and wiped away the soot from the metal, a sense of dread rising. His heart seemed to squeeze as he recognized the silvery gauntlets. He picked them up and set them reverently on his desk. Glynda's hands went to her mouth as she recognized them as well. He walked around the desk and sat heavily in his chair. Glynda walked over and wiped soot and ash from the gauntlets with a white handkerchief, tears running from her eyes. They both sat there in silence as she finished cleaning the weapons. Finally, she looked up to him.

When she spoke, her voice was carefully controlled. "What are we going to do? If he has been taken by her, she will shortly know everything.' Ozpin shook his head.

"Knowing Phoenix as we do, he would have purged all the information he could. And when he last checked in, he told me in no uncertain terms, he wouldn't be taken alive. I suspect that explosion was him keeping his promise." His scroll beeped. As he looked at the sender, his face went carefully blank as he played the video on his office hologram. In the air in front of them, Phoenix appeared, his silvery hair slicked back as he looked into the camera.

"Hey there guys. If you are getting this, then I activated the emergency protocols on my scroll. That means I am dead or about to die. When this message finishes, all of the data I have collected will have finished downloading to your scrolls." His eyes seemed to look right at the both of them. "Cassandra must be stopped. While many of those who follow her are ones she has used her power on, the most dangerous ones are the willing followers. Her entire team has joined her willingly. I remember them from our school days… If anything, they have only gotten more powerful and lost the morals they had." Phoenix looked down at the ground before looking back into their eyes. "I would have loved to gone through with our plans. Experiments were always more our thing than this shadow work… But I was the only one who could have succeeded. It looks like I failed. The information should be just about done." He straightened and looked directly into the camera. "Do not mourn my loss. Rather, laugh with memories of happier times. In war, valor. In peace, vigilance. In death, sacrifice. This is Phoenix Inkieale, one last time, signing off." The video ended, plunging the office into darkness. Glynda turned to Ozpin, eyes still wet with tears.

"What was that last part about? Before his sign off, I mean." Ozpin steepled his fingers as he started into the spot where he the video had been; where he had seen his friend's face one last time.

"Phoenix was a big believer in having backup plans. I believe that the phrase was either a password or hint to a location where a cache may be. We will have to make some subtle inquiries."

Glynda nodded and turned to the door. "I will start now. I know I won't be able to sleep for a long while. I will check near his house." Ozpin watched as she walked into the elevator.

"Glynda," he called. "Keep alert. There are other threats than Cassandra out and about." She gives him a stiff nod as the doors slide closed. Ozpin sat back in his chair and turned to look out the area where his window had been. A thought struck him. Even a dust bomb as large as that one had been would have left a body, or at least damaged Phoenix's weapons. If that was the case, where was his body? And why weren't his weapons damaged?


	2. Turn Left

Chapter Two

Turn Left

Phoenix Inkieale sighed as he walked out of his drama class towards his chrome covered bike, running his hand through his metallic silver dyed hair. Class had been filled with drama, just not the kind they were supposed to be doing. He stretched and slid his helmet on, turning on its internal speakers and playing music directly from his phone in the pocket of his left coat pocket. It wasn't that he didn't _Like_ the classes, it was just he was finding more and more difficult to _care_ about them. He slides onto his bike and turns the key, the engine rumbling to life under him. The whole idea of drama classes had been his mother's idea in any case. She didn't approve of having her son make his money on the Internet. Despite such wonderful examples he had shown her… Well… maybe not great examples. The Death Battle between Tifa and Yang was probably not the best choice of video but Screwattack had always been one of his favorite channels. And that battle in particular was interesting. He had spent far too much of his misspent youth playing FF VII and had never heard of RWBY. But the battle had interested him enough to start looking up RWBY. If only he had time to actually WATCH the damn thing.

He pulled out into the street as continued his pondering on the death battle. The drive home was never very eventful and traffic was minimal this time of day. His phone switched music from Karmin to Vivaldi as he headed down the main street towards the highway. Various businesses and home flashed by as he opened up the throttle, rushing home. At a stop light, his music switched to I Burn, the only song from RWBY he owned. He chuckled to himself as he accelerated again. It seemed like the universe was telling him that he really ought to watch the damn show.

At the T intersection before his house, there was a sudden and blinding flash of light. Phoenix hit his brakes hard and swerved out of the way of whatever was happening, narrowly missing the solid concrete wall and turning left into a tunnel, the opposite direction of home. He shook his head hard as he tried to clear his vision, feeling dizzy and lightheaded as if the world had shifted around him. As his vision cleared and he looked around him, his eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped. What had been just a standard earth road had turned into some sort of high tech highway… And his full face helmet windscreen had shifted into some sort of high end heads up display reminiscent of video games. Phoenix began slowing down and taking deep breaths, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. As the song faded from his ears, he heard a honk as someone one swerved around him. He looked over as he shook himself and increased speed to match the other vehicles around him, not sure what the actual speed limit is. What he saw drove him to distraction. A young woman sped past him on a bike similar to his own; her long blonde hair streaming out from her helmet and the golden yellow metallic wristbands flashing under the streetlights.

Phoenix recognized her from the death battle… But that was impossible… Remnant wasn't real! The distracting shock of this was so great that he lost control of his bike. It wobbled, slid to a wall and struck, sending him and the bike over the edge and out into the open air. Phoenix began cursing as he let go of his bike and curled. He really didn't want to die confused and in shock. As he curled up in the air, heading straight for the hard, unforgiving concrete at far too fast a speed, he felt something in him shift. He became surrounded in a mirror-like energy. He felt the warmth of it as he closed his eyes, preparing for the inevitable impact. Phoenix struck two concrete pillars on his way down, the impacts knocking him out. The last thing his felt was the same energy wrapping tight around him as the ground rushed up to meet him.

Ozpin was walking out from the police station, Glynda at his side when his scroll went off. He opened it to see a woman in a nurse's uniform. A sense of dread washed over him as he recognized her. "Yes Arabella, What has happened?"

She sighed. "One of your huntsmen just got brought in. Had a massive bike wreck and is fairly scratched up. His aura took most of the blows though. He had you listed as his emergency contact in our system." Ozpin exchanged a look with Glynda, raising one eyebrow.

"I have many huntsmen in the field, although I cannot think who would list me as their only emergency contact. Who was brought in?"

Arabella looked through a separate scroll. "Phoenix Inkieale… Although… That's odd. He was in here last month for some broken bones but his stats have completely changed…" She looked back to Ozpin to see a carefully blank expression on his face as his mind raced to put together facts and theories to fit the data Arabella had just given him. "I will put him in a closed ward and place guards on his door till you get here. According to his current medical record, he is supposed to be 33… I wouldn't put this kid at any older than 17. Hurry down here." She ended the call. Ozpin turns to Glynda, who shrugged.

"I have heard of quite a few weird things in my time… But age regression just isn't possible." Ozpin nodded in agreement and began walking towards their car.

"Head back to Beacon and get ready for our new students… I will head to the hospital and see who or what this person really is… I have a theory but I want to see him for myself." Glynda nodded and went to her own transportation as Ozpin slid into his car. He pulled up Phoenix's last message and looked over exactly who it had been sent to, trying to figure out how many people he had to contact to confirm Phoenix's death with… Although if this person was who he thought he was, that would be difficult to explain indeed. After all, it's not everyday a friend dies only to show up again less than an hour later.

 **Author's Note: So, I am posting this chapter a week early cause I can't really wait to post. This story is currently amassing an army of rabid plot bunnies and my muse is collaborating with them. My mind gonna be a RWBY filled battle field by the end of the weekend. Anyways, see you next week! Also, Shout out to anyone who gets the chapter title reference.**


	3. Welcome to the World

Chapter Three

Welcome to the World

Phoenix woke up with a jolt, which surprised him. After a wreck that bad, he hadn't expected to wake up ever again. He opened his eyes to find himself in a high tech version of a hospital… Which was not all that surprising when he thought of it. What was surprising were the bands of maroon energy that seemed to hold him on the bed. He tried to move and they constricted around him. It wasn't painful and rather felt like he was being held to the bed by thick silk ropes. He felt a sensation in the back of his head. Almost like overhearing a whisper in the next room. Before he could focus on it, a nurse walked in. She had hair that was sunset orange with a pair of cat's ears poking out from the bandanna she wore. Her clothes were that of a medical professional in any place; clean medical scrubs and sensible shoes. The knife at her belt was not typical and he eyed it and her, not really able to move like this. She noticed he was awake and checked her wristwatch.

"Well well Mr. Inkieale, you are awake far faster than you should have been. The sedative I gave you should have lasted for another hour at the very least." She pulled a tablet made of whitish metal and a transparent screen out of a pocket. What he assumed was his vitals showed up on it.

Phoenix shook his head. "Um… Hi… Who are you? And what the hell happened? Last thing I knew I was gonna splat against some pillars and then this weird energy surrounded me… Now I am being tended to by a woman with cat's ears…" He slumped back into the bed, the bands of energy around him loosening to be comfortable again. He muttered to himself, "boy, I sure ain't in Kansas anymore…"

The nurse raised an eyebrow at his comments, looking his vitals over quickly before sliding the tablet back into her pocket. "Well, I may be able to answer some of those questions, although you really will have to wait for Ozpin to get here before most of your questions can be answered."

Phoenix looked even more lost than before, if that were possible. "Who the hell is Ozpin?"

The nurse nodded, as if confirming something she suspected. "So, Mr. Inkieale, you lost control of your bike and went over a dividing wall. If your aura hadn't activated when it did, you would have, to use your words, gone splat. As it was, your aura took a majority of the damage and what little it didn't take was absorbed by your leather jacket." She bent and picked up his jacket from the corner. It had deep gouges in the leather. "The road rash would not have been very fun to deal with, to say the very least." She looked over at Phoenix to see him staring at her with a look of non-comprehension. She sighs. "What of that didn't you understand?"

Phoenix shook his head hard and closed his eyes hard, counting backwards from 13 before opening his eyes. "Okay, so this is not a dream. And so that leaves either the fact that I have gone completely insane or this is a very high class hallucination."

The nurse gave him a small shake of her head. "I can tell you this much, this is not a hallucination. As for your sanity, that is up to you to decide. However, I suggest figuring it out soon." She turned and headed out of the room.

Phoenix growled out. "God DAMN it Bella, if you are gonna leave me here to stew you could at least remove the bands!" He stops as those words leave his lips and echo through the room. "What the hell was that…?"

The nurse froze and slowly turned around. Her face was carefully blank. "What did you just say?"

Phoenix shook his head hard, trying to figure that out himself as the whispering picked up in the back of his head. "I… I said to remove the bands if you were gonna leave me to stew… I… I also called you Bella…" He met the nurse's eyes and saw the flicker of emotion in them.

"Why yes Phoenix… You did…" The nurse gestured and the bands simply vanished. Without another word, she turned and walked out of the room. Phoenix sat in the bed and tried to figure out what exactly was going on with his life.

Ozpin walked into Vale General Hospital's Huntsman and Huntress ward an hour after receiving Arabella's call to find her sitting in the Nurses' station, crying hard. He walked over to her and placed an arm on her shoulder. "Arabella, what is wrong? This isn't like you."

A moment later she meet his gaze, her golden eyes wet with the tears. "That boy… I know Phoenix very well... He spent quite a bit of time here both as a patient and as a helper… That boy isn't Phoenix and yet…" She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and took a deep breathe. "Ozpin, you don't think that age regression COULD have happened do you? He was always messing with various compounds and dust…"

Ozpin shook his head. "No Arabella. Everything we know about science says that it's not possible… However, I have a theory. I want to see him before I say anything more. Is he awake?"

Arabella nodded and finished composing herself before checking her watch. "He has been awake for over half an hour now. His body metabolized the sedative far faster than normal and his vitals are off slightly. Heart rate is up, which isn't unexpected considering what he went through but oddly, his oxygen levels are about 20% higher than is normal. Other small things showed up in my scans as well." Ozpin nodded, putting all the facts together into his theory.

"Alright Arabella, show me to him. Let's put my theory to the test."

Arabella stood and nodded to Ozpin, leading him through the ward. A pair of Vale police stood outside one of the doors. They snapped to attention when they see Ozpin and Arabella approach. Ozpin nodded to them.

"Thank you for your help. You can go, I have got it from here." The two officers nodded and walked away, leaving the two of them outside the door. Arabella cocked her head very slightly as she reached out to open the door. Ozpin noticed and grabbed her arm.

"What is it? What do you hear?" She looked at him, eyes slightly out of focus as she listened hard.

"The boy… He is talking to someone…" Ozpin's eyes grew wide and with a burst of speed, he threw the door wide open. The room looked as though a bomb had gone off in it. The bed was shredded into pieces and various bits of it were glowing with heat. The boy that Ozpin could only assume was Phoenix was standing on the far side of the room from the door a piece of his bed held in both hands as a makeshift weapon as the other three people in the room stood across from him, obviously ready to continue the fight.

Ozpin recognized the billowing black dress of Cassandra as he flipped his cane around ready for combat. Beside him, Arabella's knife was in her hand and her other hand became covered in maroon energy. The whole room waited for someone to make the first move…

 **Author's note: Sorry this took so long. My whole life got complicated and I had to prioritize other things. As for this chapter, it's short because multiple pov breaks can get confusing, especially with time jumps. The next chapter will be much longer, I promise.**


	4. Ten minutes earlier

Chapter Four

Ten minutes earlier, or A Subjective Eternity

It had been 20 minutes since the woman called Arabella had left him here to wait and he was still trying to figure out what the hell had gone on with his life.

 _Alright, let's run it again. I left drama class to go home, thinking about the Death Battle of Tifa vs Yang. I Burn was playing in my helmet. There was something like an explosion in front of me and I turned the wrong direction to avoid it… Everything seemed to shiver and then I was_ _ **passed**_ _by Yang, which caused me to lose control and fly off my bike and into the air… Apparently my aura activated and took the damage. Someone called 911 and I ended up here…_

Phoenix gripped his hair hard and groaned out, "But none of that makes any sense! Remnant isn't fucking real! And out of all the possible planes in the Multiverse, why did I end up on one I know NOTHING about! Why couldn't it have been in Mass Effect or even Hyrule! At least I understand those places!" As he ran his hands through his hair, he stopped and felt it, focusing on the sensation of the hair running through his fingers.

It felt... off. He slid out of the bed and padded on bare feet to the attached bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. The sight before him shocked him. The silvery film of his hair, normally the result of a weekly dye touch up, now looked and felt like it had _grown_ that way. And his eyes, normally metallic silver, now resembled two small, circular mirrors. In fact, as he leaned closer he noticed that they were in fact mirrored.

He stumbled back from the mirror and back into his hospital room, letting out small bleats of alarm. His door opened and a cop, at least he assumed it was a cop, stuck his head in. "'Ey, get back in your bed. You ain't goin' nowhere till Professor Ozpin says so." Phoenix sighed heavily and flopped back onto his bed as the door closed again. He shut his eyes, his head swimming in confusion and despair. That same tickling sensation in the back of his mind sprang up again and he grimaced before shoving it away, not wanting to deal with another unusual thing for today.

He wasn't sure what exactly tipped him off that he was under attack. Phoenix rolled off the bed and away from it as the air in the room seemed to waiver and become solid as odd reflective patterns appeared around the room. A split second after he rolled away, something red hot sliced through the hospital bed like a laser through rice paper. Three figures jumped off a massive raven looking creature that was faintly familiar and crashed through his room's window.

He scrambled to his feet and looked widely for the cops from a moment before, but they were nowhere to be found. He stared wide-eyed at the woman in a long, flowing black dress that walked forward in front of the two men with her. Her creamy white skin and long straight brown hair seem to waver slightly in a nonexistent breeze as her iris-less eyes meet his.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? A boy in place of the man you were? What a novel concept. And strangely fitting." She glanced at the man on her right.

He was wearing a set of clothes made of metallic looking fish scales and had a large sword in his hands that seemed to be glowing with heat. "Sylvan, if you wouldn't mind making quite sure that he can't escape again." The man grinned like it was something he'd been waiting for and took a step forward.

Phoenix was rooted to the ground in panic, utterly confused and desperate. _What do I do? What did I do? What do I do?_ The question ran through his mind like lightning as the man prepped for a swing, his sword beginning to flicker with fire.

As if in answer to his question, a voice seemed to ring out from everywhere and nowhere with a single command.

 _FIGHT! Fight like you want to live!_

The man swung his sword, a powerful blow meant to cut him in half across the waist. Without thinking about why he was listening to the voice in his head; Phoenix dove forward, slipping under the flaming sword and driving his shoulder into the armored gut of his attacker.

He moved with a speed he didn't know he had and hit with force that should have broken his shoulder. What actually happened was the armored man being knocked back a step, the wind knocked out of him. That same voice spoke to him again.

 _His armor is useless against blunt impacts. Don't let up._

Phoenix rebounded from the man and gripped a piece of his former hospital bed as he managed to land on his feet. The man in the armor growled deep in his throat as he got his breath back and spun his sword twice in his hand. The sword let out a howl as a line of fire launched from it, screaming through the air directly towards him.

Phoenix's eyes went wide and he yelped, jumping back and barely dodging the flame. It struck the solid looking air and fizzled out.

The second man, the one of the woman's left, made a flicking gesture, producing a pistol from his sleeve and aimed at Phoenix's head. Going on instinct and what little fighting training he had, Phoenix dashed forward, swinging the metal frame in a vicious uppercut into the man's wrist.

A flicker of yellowish energy stopped the blow about half an inch from the man's skin, but the impact was enough to spoil his aim, the gun unloading a four round burst into the ceiling.

The woman sighed and reached out for Phoenix. The voice in his mind screamed at him.

 _Don't let her touch you! One touch and you're worse than dead!_

Phoenix didn't question it, he didn't have the time to, as he threw himself backward, and landing on his back on the opposite side of the room. The man in armor growled and sliced through the few remains of the hospital bed in anger.

"This is ridiculous! The boy should be dead. The dust bomb was enough to level a city block if it hadn't been shaped and yet here he is!"

The woman nodded and cocked her head, looking at Phoenix with a curious smile.

"You are quite right, Sylvan. I don't believe that this boy _is_ the same man I chased last night. You don't even know who I am, do you?"

Phoenix was gripping the metal frame piece and panting hard. He was thoroughly confused but replied with as much bravado and venom as he could muster, "I don't give a rat's ass who you are, bitch. Come a little closer and I will cure you of all your ills."

The second man snickered and commented, his voice full of derision, "Mistress, while I can give the boy credit for bravado, I think we should kill him in any case. If the information makes it to the Huntsman, it will do nothing but hurt us."

The woman nodded, still looking at Phoenix with the curious smile.

"Right you are, Ruben. If you and Sylvan would make sure our safe zone remains intact, I will deal with him."

The woman took a couple steps forward, her high heels clicking. At that exact moment, the door burst open. Phoenix looked over to see Arabella and a man who looked like nothing more than the headmaster of a private school take a step into the room. Their eyes swept over the tableau and the older man flipped a walking stick into an en garde stance. Everyone froze for a moment before the woman sighed.

"In the nick of time once again, Ozpin. What happy luck for you."

The man took another step forward and said in a voice that was quite calm and level, "You were reckless to come here. And if you think Sylvan's Safe Room will keep me out, you can add foolish to the descriptor as well."

The woman walked to the window with the other two men.

"Quite right, Ozpin. But this is not the end. You and Yours will join Me and Mine."

As the three of them jumped onto the back of the winged creature she gave Phoenix a significant look before they flew away.

The shimmering vanished and with a shiver the room reverted back to its original state. Phoenix looked at the room, looked at Arabella, and then man who must be Ozpin, and said quite clearly and with detached calm, "What. The Fuck. Is going on?"

"Alright, he seems to be unharmed," Arabella commented as she deactivated her scanner. "We should consider ourselves lucky in that regard. It's not like Sylvan to leave a target alive."

Ozpin nodded from where he was sitting in a chair in a corner of the room. He had been watching Phoenix throughout his examination and now leaned forward. "So… Mr. Inkieale. I know you have questions. And I have probably just as many as you do. But, as you have just seen, things are not the most stable at the moment. So, I suggest we talk on the way. Arabella, is he fit to travel?"

Phoenix made a slightly aggrieved noise as Arabella made him look her in the eyes with a hand under his chin. She smiled softly. "If he can protest like that, he should be just fine. The Vale PD found his bike and brought it to the hospital. It was remarkably unharmed."

Phoenix let out a small grunt and pulled away. "I have plenty of questions. One of those questions need to be answered before I go anywhere with anyone." Arabella took a step back and glanced at Ozpin, who nodded at Phoenix.

"Go ahead. What's your concern?" Phoenix looked between the two of them and let out a deep sigh.

"I have been trying to process what exactly has been going on. As far as I can tell… I haven't gone insane, and I don't have people trying to kill me in my dreams… The only conclusion I can draw is that something brought me here." He looked up at Ozpin, who had a satisfied look on his face. "This doesn't seem to be a shock to you. Which means that something happened here that pulled me in…?"

Ozpin sat back in his chair, his hands coming to rest on the head of his cane as he met Phoenix's gaze. "You would be correct in guessing that I suspected you are not, shall we say, from around here. If you are looking for the details as to why you are here, I cannot begin to speculate. The _How_ , however, is something I have a theory on." Phoenix's face sets into an expression of grim determination.

"Alright… Shoot." Arabella took a seat on the edge of Phoenix's bed and pulled up a file on her tablet. At a gesture from Ozpin, Arabella hands him the tablet. It was a medical file for one Phoenix Inkieale, age 34.

Ozpin began to speak as Phoenix looked through the medical file. "Last night, I got a message from one of my Huntsman. He said he was being followed by a threat and that he would get back to me as soon as he got to a safe space. Less than an hour later, there was an explosion from his last location and he was missing in action. Four hours after that, I get a call from Arabella that you had been brought in…" Arabella gave Ozpin a hard look that Phoenix missed, absorbed as he was in the file. "My theory is that explosion mixed with his Semblance, causing a ripple in the world. At that moment, you were pulled here." Phoenix looked up sharply.

"On my way home from Drama… There was an explosion in the middle of the street. I had to swerve to avoid it. That was when I ended up here…" Phoenix looked down at the tablet again. "The… what was it you called him… Huntsman? He was me?"

Ozpin shrugged slightly. "I am unsure. He too was named Phoenix Inkieale and you two have similar enough traits that Arabella's scanners registered you as him. As for details, I can only offer theories." Phoenix looked down at the tablet for a moment before setting it aside. His entire demeanor became one of someone who was about to pick up a heavy burden, but was determined to do so.

"Alright… what should I do?" Arabella and Ozpin share a look before Arabella replied. "Medically, you are fine. Some abnormalities that can be explained by Ozpin's theory and a few minor shocks to the system but otherwise in perfect health." Ozpin gave Phoenix a small smile.

"I suggest you come with me to my school. The group of people who attacked you seems to think you are a threat to them. Beacon would be able to teach you how best to defend yourself and would offer you a chance to learn about the Phoenix from our world." Phoenix nodded, absorbing that in and thinking it through.

"Alright. Is there anything else you wanted to know?" Ozpin smiled as he stood and offered Phoenix a hand. He took it and got to his feet.

"There will be time enough for questions. My office will be open to you. For now, we should get you to Beacon, make sure you have the essentials. Clothes and a scroll should be easy enough to come by. The biggest question I have before I leave, however… You handled yourself well against three well-trained assailants, wielding nothing more than a piece of debris. Were you trained in combat?'

Phoenix shrugged slightly as he shuddered at the recent memory. "I was trained in Mixed Martial arts and Kickboxing… But the biggest help…" He seemed almost embarrassed to admit it but he said, "I heard someone helping me. Like a voice from the ether that knew a lot more about this place…" Ozpin nodded and shared a significant look with Arabella.

"My advice to you, Phoenix, is to listen to that voice. It may be more important that you realize." Ozpin opened the door for Phoenix, gesturing him to follow as Arabella gathered Phoenix's things from the room. "And it's quite fortunate that you are trained as you are… I have just the weapon for you to use." Phoenix gave him a slightly confused look.

"Just what kind of school is it you run?"

 **Author's Note: Another chapter done. Hopefully this one was better than the last one. My goal is to be able to post once a week, at least until I can get over my writers block for False Dawn. Comment and Review, I live for people's criticism. A big thanks to AgntNevada and FreezingReality for their beta work as I can't edit for crap! Till next time!**


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